


Work Rats

by Starshaker



Series: 30 days of Techienician [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, Loneliness, M/M, Workplace, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 03:49:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8188489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starshaker/pseuds/Starshaker
Summary: 30 Days of TechienicianDay Five: Work
Clan Techie had worked down in the depths of what was affectionately called the ‘hell hole’, and less affectionately called the ‘pit of despair’ for two years now. Deep in the bowels of First Order Enterprises headquarters, in the middle of a city that never slept, there was a basement level. A place where the walls dripped with condensation and mould grew around the seams of every join in the walls and crease of discarded cardboard.





	

First Order Entreprises operated at the pinnacle of development and manufacturing, though no-one could ever say what exactly they were developing and manufacturing. It could have been firearms, medical tech, surveillance devices or political merchandise; or something else entirely. 

Deep in the bowels of First Order headquarters, in the middle of a city that never slept, there was a basement level. A place where the walls dripped with condensation and mould grew around the seams of every join in the walls and crease of discarded cardboard.

Clan Techie had worked down in the depths of what was affectionately called the ‘hell hole’, and less affectionately called the ‘pit of despair’ for two years now. He’d transferred from a satellite office as the First Order had outgrown its offices on the outer rim of the city and while his colleagues had been allocated to specific departments he’d been allocated a desk and workstation in the Maintenance Technician Hub, as the broken sign on the door declared.

 

In the damp confines of the basement level Techie’s allergies were subdued even if his asthma played up more often than not. Maintenance requests came through to a small console in the corner. Most were from irritated office workers who sat down at their desks to find their computers wouldn’t turn on, coffee machines wouldn’t work or heating systems were stuck on extreme settings. 

If Techie could possibly help it he set his own work hours and worked through the night so that he could avoid people on the main floors, but his supervisor had made a rare visit down to his station and found that he was clocking in from six pm to six am. He stuck to those hours too if he knew his supervisor had planned a week off or was working off-site. 

She’d visited him in the Maintenance Hub a total of seven times since he’d started working in the building and every time she’d caught Techie doing something he shouldn’t have been. His improvised repair work had caused him to be reported a few times by distrustful personnel and on the latest occasion he’d brought in food from home rather than pay for anything in the canteen. His bank account hovered the dangerous line between red and black and even penny counted when his rent was due. 

 

Techie was glad of the distraction when a maintenance request came in just as his stomach began to twinge as the smells of the canteen and the greasy air began drifting from the air filter in the room down the corridor from where Techie worked.

_Vending machine broken. Swallowed $5. I want my money back._

Techie checked the email address against the company database and found it was from the finance department, but finance was over two floors and there were probably six vending machines between them. Techie ran a hand through his hair and tied it into a low bun and then wiped his now greasy fingers on his trousers. He reached for his tool box and went off in search of the broken vending machine. 

He stepped off the service elevator on the first floor of the finance department and ducked his head to avoid the attention of a nearby group of employees. He stepped lightly down the corridor, along the one shadowed wall that circled the main office floor. The lunch trolley was making it’s way through the cubicles and everyone’s attention seemed to be pre-emptively turned in the direction of the man pushing it and his wares. 

The first three machines he came to had no apparent faults or irritated employees nearby, though a floor manager with an upturned nose told him he would be reported for wearing his uniform in such disarray. Several other employees sniggered behind him and Techie quick stepped past them as one muttered about “ _The First Order going down hill since they started hiring gutter trash_ ,” It hurt but it wasn’t a new occurrence. He kept his head down and continued on up to the finance department on the higher floor.

On the second finance floor the first vending machine was placed just to the right of the elevator and as Techie turned the corner to it he came face to face with a small group of people. The woman stood closest to him turned as the others looked up at the sight of his orange maintenance overall. Techie kept his eyes down.

“Well you took your time,” She snapped and Techie glanced between her feet and the base of the machine. 

“I’ll do what I can,” He said quietly and as he went to step around her she tapped her foot on the linoleum.

“I want my money back,” She said, “I need to get lunch,”

Techie set his tool kit down to one side and shouldered the machine to push it out away from the wall. Once it was a few inches clear he dropped to his knees and pulled the socket out at the wall.

As he worked the majority of the group had dissipated except for the woman who’d lost her money to the machine and a friend of hers who whispered sharp words between themselves. Techie worked as quickly as he could to remove the back of the machine and then using the mock up manufacturer’s key for the bank box he took out five dollars.

“Excuse me?” He said 

“What is it?” The woman turned quickly and then upon realising Techie was stood behind her she took another step back and leant yet further away from him.

“Your money,” He said and held out the coins to her. 

“You couldn’t have picked out dirtier coins if you tried, and I put seven dollars in that thing,”

“Sorry,” Techie said and knelt back down to retrieve the extra money. He was sure he maintenance request had only mentioned five dollars but even if the extra two dollars was found to be missing, he doubted anyone would pay it any mind.

 

After about twenty minutes and three test runs the machine looked in good working order. Techie was lifting the back plate cover to reattach it when he realised someone was stood just behind him. 

“Hey, do you have any tape in that bag?” Techie looked back, his eyes never strayed further up that people’s shoes, shoulders if he was particularly familiar with them. A grey long sleeves shirt and bright orange canteen overalls greeted him.

“What do you need to fix?”

“My ipod’s fucked. It’s been falling apart for weeks. I just need something to hold it together,” the guy said. Techie dropped down and rooted through his bag. Three thin tape rolls were stuffed into a pocket near the bottom.

“I only have electrical tape,” Techie said as he lifted the three garish colours rolls of tape. 

“Aw man that’s just what I need,”

“Matt! Floor 17 are waiting!” 

“They can wait another five minutes,” The guy, Matt called back to the manager. 

“No personal electronics are allowed on this floor,” The floor manager’s heavy footfalls neared and as Techie glanced up he saw him snatch the Ipod from Matt’s hand. He yanked back but the ipod slipped out of both of their grasp. It hit the wall and then the floor with a clatter and pieces scattered across the carpet. Techie gathered the parts he could in his hands.

“You just broke my Ipod,” Matt said and Techie saw his hands clenched to fists at his sides.

“You shouldn’t have it anyway,” The manager snapped, “Get back to work. If you’re still here in thirty seconds you won’t have a job with the First Order any more,”

“Thanks anyway,” Matt said, “I guess it just needs throwing in the trash now,” Techie hazarded a warily glance up at him. As he did so he was struck by the yellow blond hair of the man looking back at him. Thick glasses surrounded big kind eyes and dark moles scattered across pale skin. 

“You’re eyes...they’re,” Matt started and Techie suddenly realised he’d been staring and Matt’s expression was one of surprise. He quickly looked away, 

“Allergies,” Techie said and reached to pick up the rest of his tools.

“Beautiful,” Matt said airily. Techie bit his bottom lip and glanced up again 

“I uh, need to-,” Techie said quietly, “I should get back to work,” 

“Yeah, of course,”

“You have ten seconds to get off my floor!” The manager shouted back to them. Techie cringed as the yell as Matt turned on his heel and stormed back towards the catering cart. 

Techie slipped away as he heard Matt turn to argue with the supervisor. He didn’t stop to look up or look back until he was back in his office with the door shut and his back leant firmly against it.

 

It only took ten minutes for his hands to stop shaking. He shut his eyes and took deep breaths to steady his nerves whilst his mind’s eye was filled with yellow blond hair and kind eyes behind thick glasses. 

Techie wiped at his eyes and felt the raw sting of irritation over the crease of skin at each side. Matt had called them beautiful. Techie laughed; an empty and pitiful laugh to an empty pitiful room. Matt probably needed to update his prescription. Kind eyes could never find his beautiful. Or maybe kind eyes found beauty in everything indiscriminately.

The ipod was a light pressure in his pocket. Ipods were tricky to fix but this wouldn’t be the first that Techie had found and restored. A few he’d sold online but this one he knew he’d have an obligation to repair and return. After checking for any more office maintenance issues Techie set the pieces of Ipod down on a small cleared patch of the desk and began mechanical surgery.

 

A week went by and Techie had only caught a few glimpses of Matt. A mop of yellow blond hair heading down a corridor with a rattling trolley as Techie was due to work on a repair in the opposite direction. When he once spotted Matt’s unattended trolley he slipped the ipod half beneath a stack of napkins and left again before Matt returned. He shouldn’t have wanted to hang about anyway. Matt probably didn’t even remember him. 

In the quiet hours of work Techie tried to keep his office and surrounding corridors relatively clean and tidy. Leaks dripped from heating and ventilation pipes and the corridors were sometimes entirely blocked off with boxes of outdated equipment by people who thought the whole level was abandoned and unused.

Techie checked through every one and often found pieces of tech he could repurpose or store for future use and repairs. He mopped the floor once a day at least since there was no hope of fixing the leaks and condensation without the requisite parts that he’d tried to order multiple times. 

The pipes were old and it was too damp and cold for a heating system to do anything but cause more condensation. A de-humidifier would help but Techie’s equipment requests had gone unanswered. The ventilation system was supposed to funnel excess moisture up and out of the building but the systems also routed through past the kitchens. The grease from the kitchens had blocked up an extractor fan and so the Kitchens vented out well enough but the colder basement levels did not.

Greasy rainbows caught the light in the puddles Techie mopped away evidence their littered presence.

“Finally,” Techie startled and looked up to see the sandwich trolley guy, Matt, walking down the corridor towards him. He set his mop down to one side and turned to face him though he kept his eyes on the floor

“Oh uh sorry,” Techie stuttered, “Can I help you?”

“I’ve been trying to find you all week,”

“Most people send their problems through email,” Techie said

“I don’t have a problem,” Matt said as he closed stepped over the puddle and stood a couple of feet away, “I’m Matt,”

“I know,” Techie said quietly and hazarded a glance to Matt’s chest. There was a smear of mayonnaise over his overalls and a small piece of lettuce caught under the cloth ties at the side.

“You know?” Matt asked. Techie nodded and his eyes darted to where a steady drip was falling just to the right of Matt’s shoe. Matt must have caught his look because he stepped out of it’s path before the next drop fell. 

A few moments passed and Matt seemed to be waiting for Techie to say something, but Techie so rarely had anything to say he didn’t know what he was supposed to fill the gap with.

“Do you know that left overs in this place don’t get reduced to sell or sent to food distribution charities?” Matt asked, “Anything that doesn’t get eaten that day goes straight in the garbage. New stock, every day,” He said and then waited as if for another response from Techie, “What’s your name?”

“Everyone calls me Techie,” Techie mumbled in reply.

“You want me to call you Techie?” Matt asked. Techie glanced up at the question but the second he met Matt’s eyes boring into his own he darted his gaze away and shrugged. “I’ll be back at half two,”

 

Techie wasn’t sure why he was so anxious by two thirty five. Matt had reconsidered. Techie didn’t normally eat lunch anyway. He had things to be working on and instead he’d attempted to tidy the office and had even dug out a spare chair and adjusted it so that it wouldn’t wobble.

“You’re waiting for me,” Techie startled at the sound of Matt’s voice. He hadn’t heard him walking down the corridor. 

“You said you were coming back,” Techie said quietly, “It’d be rude not to be here,”

“If I didn’t want to see someone, I’d be rude,” Matt said and he set a long cling wrapped baguette on the desk in front of Techie, careful to avoid the paperwork and the odds and ends of machinery. “So how’d you end up here then?”


End file.
